


A Meeting Of Minds

by dillonmania



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Autism, Autism Spectrum, Friendship, Gen, Special Interest, spinning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-25 08:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14973401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dillonmania/pseuds/dillonmania
Summary: Two Aspies bond over a shared interest.





	A Meeting Of Minds

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a child I saw spinning himself in public recently. I don't know if the kid was autistic, but it's a pretty common autistic habit (as is trusting behaviour and resistance to dizziness), and I decided to write about an encounter of two similar Aspies. It's set somewhere in the Silver or Bronze Age.

The boy was joyfully spinning himself in the park, laughing as he turned in circles. "Spin, spin, spin!" he chanted to no one in particular, but passersby smiled as they watched their own children play or walked past him in the midst of a busy afternoon. One tall stranger paused, however.

"Enjoying yourself?" the man asked, smiling approvingly, and Michael nodded with enthusiasm.

"It's fun!" 

"It is. May I spin too?"

The stranger was dressed well in casual clothes, and Michael looked him up and down. The man’s body language seemed familiar, a kind of awkward posture suggesting discomfort in his own skin, and the boy trusted him immediately.

"Sure!"

"Thank you," the man said with a slight smile, and began to spin like the child did: essentially running in a tight circle with his arms out, as though chasing an imaginary tail. The two of them spun a safe distance apart, and a few people stopped and stared at the adult turning in circles, but he paid them no mind.

"That was really good!" the boy declared when he'd paused to catch his breath. The man didn't seem winded at all, but stopped out of politeness and spent time in quiet thought for a few moments before speaking.

"Would you like to see a neat trick?" the man asked brightly, and the boy nodded with an eager expression. This grown-up seemed cooler than most, or at least Michael had never gotten another adult to really spin with him despite many attempts. His mom always demurred on the grounds that it made her dizzy, which was something he'd never understood. How could a person get dizzy from simple twirling?

"Watch this," the man said, and in an instant began to spin quickly in a way the boy had never seen before. His body was suddenly a blur, and Michael’s eyes widened as the man spun faster and faster in place like a colourful drill.

"Wow, that was the best thing ever!" the child exclaimed with shocked amazement as the man came to an abrupt stop and grinned at him. 

"It's not very efficient to spin in street shoes or wearing this type of clothing, to be honest, but how'd you like to spin like that?" the man preened, clearly quite pleased with himself. He was beaming now, genuinely happy to be sharing something he enjoyed with an appreciative audience.

“You bet I would!” Michael said excitedly, and the man clicked his tongue approvingly.

“All right. The first thing you want to remember is that powerful and sustained spinning is all about balance. If you’ve ever seen a top spin, you’ll know that wobbling is the first sign that it’s slowing down and soon to crash. Spinning yourself is no different. The second important aspect is to do it on the tips of your toes; you were running flat-footed, and you’ll never build up any energy or momentum that way—"

“Excuse me!” an indignant woman shouted as she ran towards them, and pulled the child back. He hadn’t been standing particularly close to the man, but now she protectively held him farther away and shielded him with her body. “What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing, talking to my son?”

“We were spinning,” the man replied patiently. He didn’t look guilty about it, which infuriated her even more.

“He was showing me how to spin better, Mom!” Michael enthused, although he was slightly troubled by the fear and anger in her tone.

“That’s not okay, honey! You shouldn't talk to strange men!” she huffed while pulling him away, and the man furrowed his brow.

“We were not stealing anything or breaking the law,” he said with some consternation. It seemed odd to him that someone would scold them for perfectly law-abiding behaviour. “You’re welcome to be present or to join in the lesson, of course. The more the merrier.”

“Get lost!” she snarled at him as she shepherded her son home, and the boy cast a saddened glance at his would-be teacher as they left.

The man frowned with confusion and annoyance, and not for the first time. He was fairly certain that other people would always be a mystery to him, even if he’d found someone just like himself for only a moment.


End file.
